It really is plugin week isn’t it. We had Flash and Silverlight, so it was time for Java to pop its head up from the shadows, and that is what happened with the production release of Java 6 Update 10. It has to be one of the worst version names, but a solid plugin release it is! We originally sat down with Ken Russell to talk about this version on October 18th, 2007.

When I was in his neck of the woods last, I got the chance to talk with Sun’s Danny Coward, the Chief Architect of Sun’s Client Software (that is, Java SE, Java ME, JavaFX and JavaCard), about Java 6 Update 10. That seems like kind of a narrow topic to speak to, but as Danny and I discuss, it’s a big release for Sun’s RIA and client-side (re-)push.

Along those lines, we spend a lot of time detailing the re-written plugin that’s used for Java applets and JavaFX, the improved installer and update experience, and other client side features like one of the new GUI look-n-feels, Nimbus.

I installed it last night on Windows Vista. Immediately after I went to processing.org to see if applet start times were noticeably different and I didnt’ see much change. Maybe I misunderstood how it was going to change. Oh well.